Below the surface: cutting-edge contributions to medical imaging.

• Author: Wilhite, Brent

MORE THAN 100 YEARS AGO, Wilhelm Roentgen waved his hand through a stream of X-rays and saw his bones silhouetted on a screen across the room. In the century following his accidental discovery, numerous other ways to see through tissue developed, including ultrasound, nuclear medicine and magnetic resonance imaging.

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Today, two Utah companies are improving some of these methods of seeing into the body. This month, UB explores how these companies are advancing medical imaging and improving lives.

Moxtek

What do projection TVs, NASA's Mars rovers and mammography have in common? Orem-based Moxtek develops technology in all three of these diverse areas.

The company's major funding engine is its X-ray business, allowing users to determine the percentage of elements in a given sample. NASA equipped its Mars rovers Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity with Moxtek's X-ray window products to help determine the elements in the rocks and soils on Mars. Back on planet Earth, if you purchase a projection TV, chances are you will find some of Moxtek's polarization components inside. The company stepped into this industry about five years ago.

Moxtek has been successful in these two very different industries, and is beginning to tackle a third. In October 2003, the company began working under a National Institute of Health contract to develop a mammography X-ray tube.

"This will improve the diagnostic imaging for mammography," explains Clark Turner, who handles business development for Moxtek. "Right now, radiologists estimate that they miss about 20 percent of the tumors when they're very small, because they can't see the edges of the tumor or lump."

Turner points out that by improving the spot size, the resolution will increase, and the number of missed tumors will drop. "They don't think they'll find 100 percent of the tumors, but they will probably catch 50 percent of the ones they're missing now," he explains.

"This is our first exploration into the medical marketplace," notes Glenn Stewart, Moxtek's president and CEO. "We're still in the early research phase. It will take a couple of years before we have a tube that will even work."

Moxtek's variety of innovative products were a key factor in its recent acquisition by Tokyo-based Polatechno Ltd. (PLC). PLC plans to retain the Moxtek name, personnel and operating facilities at its existing location in Orem, because as Stewart states, "This is where the technology base is and the...